Project Dust
by PeoplexLikexGrapes
Summary: The Grimm are no longer the greatest threat to the Remnant Military. Insurrectionist groups are proving to be more and more difficult to deal with, and innocents are getting caught in the crossfire. The Remnant Space Marine Corps (RSMC) decides to authorise a highly experimental program: Project Dust. (There will be OCs in this but they do not dominate the story.)
1. Ruby Rose

**(EDIT: So I've decided to pick up this story again, but I've made some changes to the first chapter)**

 **Heya guys! Just trying out this new story idea. I'm not gonna lie, it's heavily inspired by Project Freelancer, however I don't think it warrants a crossover, as none of the characters from Red vs Blue will actually be in this story. I mean, some RWBY characters will represent the Rvb characters (Only roughly though), but surely for a fic to be a crossover, it has to have at least one character from either series. So yeah, that's my reasoning for it.**

 **The plot of this story is quite roughly based on the Project Freelancer story, and you'll recognise some characters have parallels to each other too. The characters will be referred to by their last names when in a combat situation, but unlike in Project Freelancer, the agents are allowed to know the first names of the other agents too. To anyone outside of the project, they'll be known as Hunters/Huntresses. Original I know… In the A/N at the end, I'll write a small bio for each character of importance.**

 **However a lot of plot and character relationships will differ in here.**

 **There won't be any shipping in this. (That could be a good or bad thing). The only ships in this story are actual spaceships… And friendships!...**

 **Anyways, I'm pretty sure you've read enough of my rambling, so here's the chapter!**

* * *

"Ruby, wake up…"

Ruby's eyes fluttered open, and it took her a moment before she realised her older sister Yang was the one talking to her from the seat next her.

"We're almost there," said Yang, giving Ruby a slight smile.

Ruby took a moment to get used to her surroundings. She was sitting inside a bullhead, and it seemed that she and Yang weren't the only ones on board. Sitting right across from them was an orange haired woman who looked quite excited and carefree, for a soldier anyway. Then, sitting in the corner far away from them, was an ebony-haired woman with mysterious amber eyes.

As Ruby processed the other two soldier's appearances, she was suddenly startled by turquoise eyes staring intently at her.

The orange-haired girl had got up from her seat, and was now staring down at Ruby.

"Uhh, hello?" asked Ruby nervously.

"Hello!" came the chipper reply. "My name's Nora Valkyrie! What's yours?"

"Ruby… Ruby Rose…"

"Nice to meet you Ruby Rose!"

"Nice to meet you too Nora…" said Ruby slowly. It was rare to see someone so upbeat in the military.

Not to say that Ruby or Yang weren't fun people. But it was unusual to see someone so enthusiastic, especially for some 'super-advanced' project.

"I'm sure we'll get on wonderfully!" said Nora, before sitting back down in her seat.

Ruby was still trying to process what had just happened.

Meanwhile, Yang was eyeing up the amber-eyed woman. Not in a weird way or anything. There was just something intriguing about her, but she didn't know exactly what.

"What about you, what's your name?" she asked.

"Blake Belladonna," said the woman, looking Yang in the eyes. "Yours?"

"Yang Xiao Long."

And with that, Blake gave a nod, and broke the eye contact with Yang.

Then, the pilot's voice came over the intercom.

" _Agents, we'll be shortly landing, just thought I'd let you know."_

"Agents?" asked Ruby, turning to Yang, a grin on her face. "Agent Rose, reporting for duty," she said with a mock salute and a smirk.

"Quit being a dork," said Yang with a laugh, gently shoving Ruby's left shoulder, which was swiftly returned. And before they knew it, it had all turned into play fighting, much to the bemusement and shock to the other two people in the Bullhead.

* * *

General Schnee was standing on the deck of the Pride of Atlas, looking at a list of names on his scroll. It was relatively quiet, with only the occasional bleep from a control panel, or messages being relayed over the comms.

When he heard the sound of a door opening behind him, he turned around, and found his assistant, Doctor Oobleck, walking and making his way up to him.

"What is it Doctor?"

"The other four agents are inbound via Bullhead. I just thought you'd like to know sir."

"Very good. What is their ETA?"

"They should be arriving in ten minutes."

"Make your way down there to brief the agents when they dock," said Ironwood, already turning away back to his scroll.

"Of course General! I very much look forward to working with you on this project. It could be quite revolutionary, and I'm sure it will be a great success. I think-"

The general rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes Doctor, now if you'll excuse me I'd quite like to get back to my work."

"Oh of course!" said Oobleck quickly, and he quickly rushed out of the room.

The General pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. Dealing with the rather eccentric Doctor would be challenging, but the man was one of the best psychiatric experts that all of the Remnant Space Marine Corps had to offer, and he would be very beneficial to the project.

As the door that Oobleck had exited from closed, the General turned back towards his scroll, which displayed a picture of a young woman with snow white hair.

"Don't worry Winter, I'll see you soon…"

* * *

 **Here are some fact files, but these are just providing information on what the characters were like in the military before Project DUST. It is just a brief description, and doesn't go into much detail, which is kind of the point. I don't want the characters to seem too alien to you, but at the same time I can't give too much away.**

 **Name: Ruby Rose**

 **Rank: Corporal**

 **Squad Role: Sniper**

 **Age: 22**

 **Home Planet: Earth**

 **Preferred weapon(s): Sniper Rifle; or any precision weapons.**

 **Background: She lost both her parents during the Grimm war, and she and her sister Yang were brought up by Oliver Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch, a couple that were close friends with their family. She joined the military as soon as she turned eighteen, where she was put in the same squad as her sister, who had enlisted two years earlier.**

 **Name: Yang Xiao Long**

 **Rank: Sergeant**

 **Squad Role: Assault specialist**

 **Age: 24**

 **Home Planet: Earth**

 **Preferred weapon(s): Shotgun, Rocket launcher**

 **Background: She joined the military at 18. Almost her entire squad was wiped out in an insurrectionist terrorist attack when she was twenty, and Ruby was assigned to her squad along with many other rookies after this.**

 **Name: Blake Belladonna**

 **Rank: Unknown**

 **Squad Role: Unknown**

 **Age: 25**

 **Home Planet: Vytal**

 **Preferred weapon(s): Dual wielded SMGs, Knives or pistols**

 **Background: General Schnee's decision to choose Belladonna was slightly puzzling, because very little is known about the woman, and she has not been found in any military records.**

 **Name: Nora Valkyrie**

 **Rank: Lance Corporal**

 **Squad Role: Grenadier**

 **Age: 23**

 **Home Planet: Haven**

 **Preferred Weapon(s): Grenade Launcher, Assault Rifle**

 **Background: Born and raised in Haven, and joined the military at 19 after her good friend Lie Ren was paralysed from the waist down due to a terrorist attack.**


	2. Welcome to the Project

The first thing they saw as the doors of the bullhead opened was a massive hangar room, filled with various equipment and vehicles. A squad of marines jogged past as the four new soldiers exited the bullhead.

"Look at all of this, Yang!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly, waving her arms around everywhere. "They've got Scorpions and Sabres! There are so many of them as well!"

"Alright Ruby, calm down," laughed Yang. "We don't want you dying of excitement before this whole thing even starts."

"But Yang, there's so much tech and everything!" said Ruby, turning to face her sister. "Ooh look, they even have the latest model of the Warthog!" She gestured excitedly to a vehicle which had a turret mounted on the back. "I heard- Ack!"

Ruby flailed as a hand suddenly clamped her mouth shut.

"Stop embarrassing us," said Yang rolling her eyes, but the blonde had to admit that she was in awe of all the technology and vehicles around them as well.

"Sorry," was Ruby's muffled reply.

Yang released Ruby and the brunette straightened out her RSMC t-shirt and tried to compose herself.

"We're meant to be badass soldiers in a badass secret super soldier project, try and act like it," said the blonde with a wry grin.

"I can be a badass and a dork at the same time you know," said Ruby with a pout, causing Yang to smirk.

"Yeah, you keep tellin' yourself that," bantered Yang as she took a look back towards the other two soldiers who had exited the bullhead with them.

The raven-haired one, Blake, had a neutral look on her face, whereas the energetic ginger girl, Nora, seemed to be more enthusiastic (not quite on Ruby's level, though).

"Ahh, you must be our last four agents!"

Yang turned back around to see a spectacled man with pointy green hair standing in front of them. Yang noticed that the man did not exactly look like military personnel.

Once he was sure that he had all four soldiers' attention, the man smiled and spoke up again.

"Welcome on board the Pride of Atlas!" declared the man dramatically. "My name is Doctor Oobleck, and I am the counsellor and head psychiatrist on board."

Yang almost didn't catch what the man had said, he spoke so rapidly. Before any of the others could get a word off, Oobleck turned and began to walk towards a hallway, motioning for the agents to follow him. Nora was the first to follow, a gleeful bounce in her step. Yang and Ruby looked at each other and the younger sister smirked as Yang raised an eyebrow, before following the eccentric man, Blake right behind them.

"Your fellow agents are already in the armoury getting equipped," explained Oobleck as they maintained a brisk pace down the corridor.

"We're already going on a mission?" asked Ruby curiously, who effortlessly kept up with the Doctor, opposed to Yang who was lagging behind slightly. Speed had never been her strong suit.

"No, no, no, not yet," said Oobleck, not looking over to the group behind him. "This is only to prepare for a training simulation to determine where you rank."

"Rank?" Blake spoke up for the first time since they'd gotten off the bullhead.

"Ah, ah! No more questions yet, General Schnee will explain in further detail once we arrive at the armoury."

The quintet walked a little further before Oobleck made a left turn towards a door. It opened, and for the second time that day, Ruby gawked in awe.

To their left was a massive rack of a variety of weapons, and on the right, there was a bunch of lockers, and hanging from four of them were different coloured suits of armour.

Yang saw Ruby's awestruck face and rolled her eyes, laying a hand on her sister's shoulder. "C'mon Rubes, not again."

It was then that she noticed that there were 8 other individuals in the armoury, a few of them staring at Ruby and Yang. The blonde felt her cheeks flush, and she shook Ruby's shoulder when she didn't respond.

"Ruby, there are other people in the room, please don't embarrass us…"

Ruby finally snapped out of it and shot Yang a sheepish look. "Oops…"

Oobleck spoke up again. "You four, please get suited up in your pieces of armour." He handed the four of them Scrolls.

Yang looked down at the screen in front of her; a picture of her armour was on display. It was bright yellow, with orange stripes down the arms and legs. She whistled approvingly, before making her way over to the locker which had her suit of armour on it, as well as some sort of jumpsuit, which would presumably go underneath. As she started to change, she was worried about how heavy the suit seemed.

However after she had finished putting on her body armour, it actually felt surprisingly light. Then she looked down to the bench where her helmet lay. It was yellow like the rest of her armour but had a red stripe on top. As she put it on, she jumped in surprise as a HUD suddenly flickered to life. On the top of her HUD was a bar, perhaps her shield level, on the upper left there was a radar with yellow spots on it.

She turned around to look at Ruby, who had been changing on the bench opposite her and saw that she was kitted out in crimson armour, with a black trim.

"Looking good sis!" said the younger sister cheerfully, her voice slightly muffled by the helmet, but it was mostly clear, so there was probably some sort of amplifier.

"You too," said Yang with a nod and a thumbs up, before turning to see the other two in their armour. Blake was decked out in all black armour, whereas Nora was wearing tan coloured armour with pink stripes.

"Now agents, if you may follow me towards the others," said Oobleck, making Yang jump, as she had forgotten all about the Doctor.

'Hopefully, he wasn't watching us change,' thought Yang with a shudder.

The four of them made their way over to the main group of agents, and at that moment, the doors to the armoury slid open and a tall, white-haired, moustached man walked into the room. The way he carried himself demanded respect, so this must have been the famed General Schnee.

"Agents," said the General firmly, and when the newcomers saw the others stand at attention, they thought it would be best to follow suit.

"At ease," he said after a short pause, and Yang relaxed her stance, as did the others.

"Now, seeing as we are all here, I suppose I must explain more about this project. " The white haired man gazed around at the agents in front of him with piercing blue eyes, and Yang felt just a little unsettled.

"As you all know, these Faunus extremist groups have been growing in size and number, particularly the group known as the White Fang."

Yang bristled at the mention of the group. There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't think about her platoon, the friends and comrades that she had lost in the ambush… She tried to shake those thoughts in her head as the General continued speaking.

"Consequently, due to the strain this rising insurrection has had on our forces, the RSMC has seen fit for Project Dust to be authorised. The armour that you are wearing has been enhanced by dust."

The General paused shortly, and Yang took the opportunity to whisper to Ruby. "I only thought Dust was used for power…"

"Dust powers your suits, which is why it feels lightweight when you put it on," explained the General. "In addition to that, it powers your shields, as well as increasing the durability of your armour, should your shield be neutralised in any way. Also, depending on the type of dust applied to your suit, you will also have a certain… ability, if you will."

Yang raised an eyebrow, impressed. This project could really crush the rebels once and for all.

 _And maybe her friends would finally be avenged._

"Now, I have personally handpicked you for this Project, so I know that you soldiers are some of the best of the best. Make sure that my faith in you is well placed."

Yang looked around at the others and noticed a white armoured agent straighten up after the General had spoken. _Interesting…_

"I shall now leave you in the capable hands of Doctor Oobleck, who will explain how this training simulation will work," said General Schnee, gesturing towards said Doctor, who stepped forward from the General's side.

As the General nodded at the agents and turned to leave, he offered some parting words.

"Welcome to the project."

* * *

 **Whew okay, I was planning on fitting in Yang and Ruby meeting some of the other agents, but I shall leave that until next time as here seems a pretty good place to stop.**

 **And yes, I have shamelessly ripped off some of the Halo vehicles, don't hate on me plz xD**

 **I've decided to only introduce fact files for the remaining characters once they've been introduced properly.**

 **Anyways, until next time,**

 **-PLG**


End file.
